NAME

menu - curses extension for programming menus

SYNOPSIS

#include <menu.h>

DESCRIPTION

The menu library provides terminal-independent facilities for composing menu systems on character-cell terminals. The library includes: item routines, which create and modify menu items; and menu routines, which group items into menus, display menus on the screen, and handle interaction with the user.

The menu library uses the curses libraries, and a curses initialization routine such as initscr must be called before using any of these functions. To use the menu library, link with the options -lmenu -lcurses.

Current Default Values for Item Attributes

The menu library maintains a default value for item attributes. You can get or set this default by calling the appropriate get_ or set_ routine with a NULL item pointer. Changing this default with a set_ function affects future item creations, but does not change the rendering of items already created.

Routine Name Index

The following table lists each menu routine and the name of the manual page on which it is described.

curses Routine Name	Manual Page Name
current_item	mitem_current(3X)
free_item	mitem_new(3X)
free_menu	menu_new(3X)
item_count	menu_items(3X)
item_description	mitem_name(3X)
item_index	mitem_current(3X)
item_init	menu_hook(3X)
item_name	mitem_name(3X)
item_opts	mitem_opts(3X)
item_opts_off	mitem_opts(3X)
item_opts_on	mitem_opts(3X)
item_term	menu_hook(3X)
item_userptr	mitem_userptr(3X)
item_value	mitem_value(3X)
item_visible	mitem_visible(3X)
menu_back	menu_attributes(3X)
menu_driver	menu_driver(3X)
menu_fore	menu_attributes(3X)
menu_format	menu_format(3X)
menu_grey	menu_attributes(3X)
menu_init	menu_hook(3X)
menu_items	menu_items(3X)
menu_mark	menu_mark(3X)
menu_opts	menu_opts(3X)
menu_opts_off	menu_opts(3X)
menu_opts_on	menu_opts(3X)
menu_pad	menu_attributes(3X)
menu_pattern	menu_pattern(3X)
menu_request_by_name	menu_requestname(3X)
menu_request_name	menu_requestname(3X)
menu_spacing	menu_spacing(3X)
menu_sub	menu_win(3X)
menu_term	menu_hook(3X)
menu_userptr	menu_userptr(3X)
menu_win	menu_win(3X)
new_item	mitem_new(3X)
new_menu	menu_new(3X)
pos_menu_cursor	menu_cursor(3X)
post_menu	menu_post(3X)
scale_menu	menu_win(3X)
set_current_item	mitem_current(3X)
set_item_init	menu_hook(3X)
set_item_opts	mitem_opts(3X)
set_item_term	menu_hook(3X)
set_item_userptr	mitem_userptr(3X)
set_item_value	mitem_value(3X)
set_menu_back	menu_attributes(3X)
set_menu_fore	menu_attributes(3X)
set_menu_format	menu_format(3X)
set_menu_grey	menu_attributes(3X)
set_menu_init	menu_hook(3X)
set_menu_items	menu_items(3X)
set_menu_mark	menu_mark(3X)
set_menu_opts	mitem_opts(3X)
set_menu_pad	menu_attributes(3X)
set_menu_pattern	menu_pattern(3X)
set_menu_spacing	menu_spacing(3X)
set_menu_sub	menu_win(3X)
set_menu_term	menu_hook(3X)
set_menu_userptr	menu_userptr(3X)
set_menu_win	menu_win(3X)
set_top_row	mitem_current(3X)
top_row	mitem_current(3X)
unpost_menu	menu_post(3X)

RETURN VALUE

Routines that return pointers return NULL on error. Routines that return an integer return one of the following error codes:

E_OK: The routine succeeded.
E_BAD_ARGUMENT: Routine detected an incorrect or out-of-range argument.
E_BAD_STATE: Routine was called from an initialization or termination function.
E_NO_MATCH: Character failed to match.
E_NO_ROOM: Menu is too large for its window.
E_NOT_CONNECTED: No items are connected to the menu.
E_NOT_POSTED: The menu has not been posted.
E_NOT_SELECTABLE: The designated item cannot be selected.
E_POSTED: The menu is already posted.
E_REQUEST_DENIED: The menu driver could not process the request.
E_SYSTEM_ERROR: System error occurred (see errno(3)).
E_UNKNOWN_COMMAND: The menu driver code saw an unknown request code.

NOTES

The header file menu.h itself includes the header file curses.h.

PORTABILITY

These routines emulate the System V menu library. They were not supported on Version 7 or BSD versions.

A menu facility was documented in SVr4.2's Character User Interface Programming document.

It is not part of X/Open Curses.

Aside from ncurses, there are few implementations:

systems based on SVr4 source code, e.g., Solaris.
NetBSD curses.

AUTHORS

Juergen Pfeifer. Manual pages and adaptation for ncurses by Eric S. Raymond.